it's what makes a subaru a subaru. >>> welcome back to a special edition of "early start." the clock keeps ticking toward massive across-the-board spending cuts and no one in washington seems in any rush to stop this, john. we now know that president obama and congressional leaders will meet tomorrow at the white house, but at this point it looks like nothing can prevent that fiscal hammer from coming down. as cnn's brianna keilar tells us it has the white house at odds with a prominent journalist. >> reporter: after a week of touting the dire consequences around the forced spending cuts would have, president obama softened his tone wednesday night in a speech to top business executives. >> this is not a cliff, but it is a tumble downward. it's conceivable that in the first week, the first two weeks, first three weeks, first month a lot of people may not notice the full impact of the sequester. but this is going to be a big hit on the economy. >> reporter: republicans have said these predictions are nothing but scare tactics. >> it's time they got off the campaign trail and